A special education legal resource discussing case law, news, practical advocacy advice, and developments in state and federal laws, statutes and regulations. Postings include insight and sometimes humor from Charles P. Fox, a Chicago, Illinois attorney who is also a parent of child with special needs, and other guest authors. Email: cfoxatty@foxspecialedlaw.com

October 17, 2014

In an editorial that appeared in TheWall Street Journal a year ago, school district attorney Miriam Kurtzig Freedman challenged the practice of inclusion of special needs students in regular education classrooms because of her belief that the presence of some of these students is compromising the education of their non-disabled peers. More specifically, Ms. Freedman urges parents of children without disabilities to speak out about how children with special needs are “short changing” the education of their children. The reasons for inclusion, according to Ms. Freedman are based more on “civil rights and social justice” and not on “best education practices.” The practice of inclusion is “entrenched” and “politically correct.” Ms. Freedman’s argument, if heeded, would set back the right of disabled children to a free appropriate public education by more than 30 years.

October 15, 2014

The internet is a wondrous strange place for the parents of a child with special needs. With the click of a mouse, parents can research information, locate specialists, learn about medical treatment and educational options, and perhaps most importantly of all, end their isolation. All at once, parents can locate a community of other parents struggling with the same issues with which they are grappling. Whether a child’s needs are severe or mild, parents may find much more effective and sanity-saving support from virtual strangers than they can from well-meaning pediatricians, grandparents, or friends.

October 13, 2014

I have reproduced this moving and inspiring story with permission. I loved this story and hope you find it as meaningful as I did.

When I decided to join the cross country team as a junior, I was already bracing for the worst. I had endured countless tales of brutal training, injuries, and endless races in the mud, reducing even the toughest legs to Jell-O. In spite of this,I quickly realized that the true essence of the sport has nothing to do with a footrace. It does, however, have a great deal to do with David.

October 10, 2014

Many persons with ADHD have successful careers and stable home lives. However, the sad reality for many people with ADHD is that the impulsiveness which defines their disorder puts them at risk of committing crimes. Study after study hammers out the unfortunate fact that persons with ADHD are more than twice as likely to be arrested compared with a control group without ADHD (42% vs 24%), three times more likely to be convicted (42% vs 14%), and 15 times more likely to serve time in jail (15% vs 1%). Up to 40% of prisoners have ADHD, and their recidivism rate is astoundingly high—up to two thirds are rearrested within three years. But a study out of Sweden published in the New England Journal of Medicine strongly suggests that older teens and adults with ADHD who are medicated are much less likely to commit a crime than those who are not medicated.

Because Sweden has a national health registry, researchers were able to compare the records of 26,000 patients who had been diagnosed with ADHD with those of individuals who had criminal convictions between 2006 through 2009. Researchers were able to use these records to determine if the person with ADHD were taking medicine at the time the crime was committed. Results were striking. They found that men with ADHD who were medicated were 32% less likely to commit a crime than men with ADHD who were not medicated, and women with ADHD were 41% less likely to commit a crime than women who were not medicated. Additionally, the researchers found that 37% of men with ADHD were convicted of committing at least one crime during this period compared with 9% of men without ADHD. (For women, the rates were 15% vs 2%).

October 07, 2014

My biggest fear as an attorney representing families of students with special needs is losing a student to suicide. To date I have not lost one. Currently, we are on the cusp of the long, dark months of winter, in which many suppose that the risk of suicide increases around the holiday season when persons who are isolated or without strong social support systems may be more vulnerable to attempting suicide. Somewhat surprisingly, however, the risk for death by suicide increases not in the winter months but in the spring, according to the CDC. For those of us who suffer from depression, the bright promise of spring and summer only serves to exacerbate symptoms. And for those who suffer from this darkness, summer and springtime can be deadly. And our youth are not immune to this troubling trend.

August 19, 2013

I had thought that pinterest was only for wedding planning but recently discovered otherwise. It is true that a picture or graphic is worth a thousand words. Check out our new pinterest page and see if you agree.

July 10, 2013

Sensory integration therapy (SIT) has been one of the
treatment mainstays for thousands of children diagnosed with autism spectrum
disorders, ADD/ADHD, or other developmental disorders. According to the American Occupational
Therapy Association (AOTA), approximately 5 to 15% of children in the general population
have sensory processing issues.School-based and private occupational
therapists and parents have brushed, swung, and bounced on balls countless children
in an effort to improve their ability to process sensory input. Yet, the effectiveness of this therapy,
despite accolades it has received from therapists and parents, has been
questioned. Now a new study by Lang et
al that assesses the benefits of SIT by reviewing 25 existing studies adds
additional fuel to the debate. In a
nutshell, the study authors state that SIT is neither effective nor
research-based and that agencies (such as schools) that are mandated to provide
research-based interventions should not be using SIT.

Lang et al culled electronic data bases for different
studies that purported to measure the effectiveness of SIT. To be included in the Lang review, the study
had to meet certain inclusion criteria; namely, at least one participant had to
be diagnosed with an ASD and some form of SIT had to be implemented in an
effort to ameliorate the symptoms of the ASD.
The SIT was then classified as positive, negative, or mixed depending on
its effectiveness. Additionally, the
methodological rigor of the study was examined to determine if the study had a
true experimental design that among other things could be replicated.

July 08, 2013

That you can’t fight city hall is a time-honored truism, but
how much harder does it become when different city halls join forces to fight
you? Parents in Orange County,
California unfortunately are discovering just this fact as they advocate for
services for their children with special needs.
Since 2005, 28 school districts plus the Orange County Department of
Education have formed an alliance, which among other functions, contributes
financially to school districts engaged in legal battles against parents.

The Orange County Special Education Alliance was
ostensibly formed to ally school districts in their ongoing campaign against parents. A single school district is a formidable opponent but fighting a coalition of districts that gives me a headache just to contemplate. Again lets remember they are not the victims of parents in the vast majority of cases.

July 01, 2013

Even 6 months after the tragedy at Shady Hook Elementary
School, we’ve all been asking what may have caused the horrific shooting. We may or may not agree that the ready
availability of assault weapons and the playing of violent video games may have
contributed to the rampage, but we can surely agree that failures in the mental
health system also played a significant role. We don’t know if his mother struggled to
obtain mental health services for her son, although we know that she had home-schooled
him for a time. What we do know,
however, is that for many families, providing mental health services for their
desperately ill children is an extraordinary challenge. And many, many children, as well as adults,
are falling through the cracks. I see the struggle for mental health services occur on a daily basis.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 4 million children and adolescents in this country suffer from a serious mental disorder that causes
significant functional impairments at home, at school, or with peers. Additionally, 21% of children between ages 9
and 17 have been diagnosed with a mental or addictive disorder that causes at
least minimal impairment. Despite this
high prevalence rate, NAMI reports that in any given year, only 20% of children
with a mental disorder are identified and treated. That’s a lot of kids to not
receive treatment, and the consequences can be tragic. Suicide is now the third leading cause of
death among youth aged 15 to 24. Of
those children who commit suicide, over 90% have been diagnosed with a mental
disorder. Additionally, 50% of teens
with a mental disorder will drop out of school.
Many of these youth will wind up in the criminal justice system. The National Institute of Mental Health found
that 65% of boys and 75% of girls in juvenile detention have at least one
mental disorder.

June 27, 2013

The fundamental challenge in finding an appropriate
placement for the student with higher-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome
is meeting the child’s emotional or behavioral needs yet not short-changing him
or her academically. Notwithstanding the
various challenges the student may have related to the disability, the student
may likely be extremely bright. Many day
therapeutic day programs are well-equipped to help the student develop social
skills and learn to maintain a sense of equilibrium, but many programs lack
academic rigor for the student.

A recent due process case from Massachusetts recognized this placement tension for a student with Asperger’s whose
parents had unilaterally placed him in an out-of-state private residential
program that they believed better met his needs. The hearing officer, in agreeing with the
parents, stated that although the school district was not required to provide a
program that would maximize the student’s potential to ensure FAPE, the school
still needed to consider the student’s potential in order to determine whether
or not he was receiving “meaningful benefit” from the IEP. To be meaningful, the student must be able to
progress, even when his potential is high. In this particular case, the student
had challenges with reading fluency and poor social skills. Additionally, he could be argumentative and
withdraw socially. Yet the student was
very talented mathematically and desired to attend college where he would study
math. The hearing officer stated that the placement proposed by the school
failed to provide FAPE. Although the
program specialized in students with Asperger’s and could help with the social
skills and learning issues, its three teachers, none of whom had content
certification, could challenge the student academically. The program, which was unable to offer
students any science labs, had also not sent any students on to college. This relatively flexible view of the FAPE requirement is new twist and one that is not applied in all cases, making this case very interesting to see if it gets applied in other cases.